The Great Debate UK

A global bright spot: Sub-Saharan Africa

By Kathleen Brooks. The opinions expressed are her own.

For the last three years talk about the global economy has been decidedly negative. Firstly there was the sub-prime housing crisis in the U.S., then the sovereign debt crisis, now we wonder whether the euro will survive and whether China will suffer a “hard” economic landing.

But amidst all of this doom and gloom, there seems to be a bright spot: Sub-Saharan Africa. For the bulk of the last thirty years the focus has been on famine, civil war or piracy, which has left a decidedly negative impression of the continent. However, in recent weeks there has been a growing number of optimistic reports about Africa, with some even thinking it could continue to grow while the rest of the world stagnates.

So why all the positivity? The media might be behind the curve on this one since Sub-Saharan growth has outperformed the global average for most of the past decade, according to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). What is even more astonishing is that it has managed to sustain its growth rates even during periods of crisis. Last year growth averaged more than 5 percent even  though the sovereign debt crisis ravaged Europe and exports stayed high. Now that global food and energy inflation is starting to level, the continent is in a solid position.

The IMF predicts that Sub-Saharan Africa will grow at a faster pace than Brazil – one of the BRIC economies – between 2010 and 2015. So how has the continent managed to divert the narrative from famine and war to growth and prosperity?

There are a few reasons for this: firstly, demographics, secondly, natural resources and thirdly, its lack of exposure to developed world banking sectors. Looking at demographics first, a growing middle class is starting to emerge and now makes up approximately one third of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa. This class of people want to spend money and have helped to lift domestic demand as a share of GDP across the region. Added to this, 70 percent of the middle class is under the age of 40 so have many “spending” years ahead of them.

The Middle Class has been helped by some expedient political decisions in the region, debt relief and peace returning to parts of the continent. This helped to nurture a private sector that has also benefitted from intra-regional trade. A growing middle class brings with it societal benefits: rising education standards and aspirations, which may eventually filter down to poorer parts of society. There is no denying that poverty is a reality in Africa and by 2060 one third of the population is expected to be still living on $1.25 per day, but at the same time more and more people are expected to lift themselves out of poverty.

from FaithWorld:

Pew measures global religious restrictions

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has come out with a new report that tries to measure, country by country on a global level, government and social restrictions on religion. You can see our coverage of the report here and here and can download the whole report here.

The report, which Pew says is the first major quantitative study of the subject on a global level, ranks countries under two indices -- one measures government restrictions on religion, the other social hostilities or curbs on religion that stem from violence or intimidation by private individuals or groups.

A damaged mosque in Onitsha in southeastern Nigeria

The Government Restrictions Index is based on 20 questions used by the Pew Forum to assess state curbs on religion at the national, provincial and local levels.

"Is public preaching by religious groups limited by any level of government?," and "Taken together, how do the constitution/basic law and other national laws and policies affect religious freedom?" are among the questions asked.

The Social Hostilities Index is based on 13 questions including “Was there mob violence related to religion?” and “Was there a religion-related war or armed conflict in the country?”

Wiwa v Shell: The day of reckoning

-Ben Amunwa is a campaigner with oil industry watchdog Platform, where he runs Remember Saro-Wiwa, a project that uses art and activism to raise awareness about the impact of the oil in the Niger Delta. The opinions expressed are his own.-

When the news broke of a settlement in the Wiwa v Shell case, a cacophony of responses soon flooded my inbox. Hailed as a victory for human rights by some, others felt disappointed that Shell could throw money in the face of justice. In such a high profile and emotive legal battle, holding oil giant Shell responsible for human rights abuses in Nigeria, including the execution of charismatic activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, hopes were inevitably high.

A settlement was always going to stir some controversy. Activists wanted to see Shell on trial for aiding and abetting the Nigerian military in crackdowns on the Ogoni people in the 1990s. Myself and many others travelled to New York expecting a trial, but came home empty-handed. Yet none of us had spent hours locked in settlement negotiations, nor lived with the burden of a 12-year litigation, not to mention the personal trauma of losing our loved ones to brutal violence. There is a growing consensus that the settlement is a victory in favor of the plaintiffs, and a step forward on the long road to corporate accountability.

Eager to flex its public-relations muscles, Shell claimed they agreed to a settlement for “compassionate” reasons. A statement on Tuesday said:

“Shell today agreed to settle a court case in New York related to allegations in connection with the Nigerian military government’s execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and others in 1995, making a humanitarian gesture to set up a trust fund to benefit the Ogoni people…Shell has always maintained the allegations were false… we were prepared to go to court to clear our name.”

In spite of Shell’s official denials, all the signs point towards complicity. No multinational company settles out of court for $15.5 million due to “humanitarian” or “compassionate” impulses. According to attorneys, this payout is far higher than similar cases.

The real reason why Shell settled is because the evidence compiled by the plaintiffs, was damning enough to force an out of court settlement. Far from being willing to defend itself before a jury, Shell has spent the last 12 years fighting to stay out of the courtroom, and to keep the evidence out of the public eye. If Shell was innocent of any wrongdoing, why didn’t they tough it out in court?

from Africa News blog:

Does Africa respect its writers enough?

The reception would have done justice to royalty or a movie star when Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe paid a rare visit to his homeland recently, some 50 years after penning his book “Things Fall Apart”.

That book has a firm place on school syllabuses in much of Africa and is studied around the world. Achebe, now 79, has been acclaimed as the father of modern African literature and as the continent’s greatest living writer – his books being very accessible as well as giving a penetrating insight into the struggles of his people.

Achebe’s Igbo community in southeastern Nigeria wanted to mark his homecoming in style and Reuters Television’s Africa Journal programme was there to follow it.

Achebe delighted people with readings from his classic novel, which has sold more than 10 million copies and tells the story of Okonkwo, who finds himself and his traditions pitted against newly arrived British colonialists in the 19th century.

“Knowing that Chinua Achebe with his talent unsurpassed, in the literary world as far as I am concerned, certainly in Nigeria, unsurpassed certainly in Africa, knowing that he comes from my neck of the woods is actually an inspiration to me,” said musician Onyeka Owenu.

The region has a reputation for producing internationally acclaimed writers, including Ben Okri and more recently Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of the prize winning novel Half of a Yellow Sun.